As Scotland’s construction sector
continues to move towards digitisation,
the management of digital data and
information within the public estate is
seen as a key mechanism to drive
efficiencies during the construction
and operational stages.

The Scottish Government
recognised this, and accepted the
recommendations of the Review of
Scottish Public Sector Procurement
in Construction which stated that
‘Building Information Modelling
(BIM) should be introduced in
central government with a view to
encouraging adoption across the
public sector. The objective should
be that, where appropriate, projects
across the public sector adopt BIM
level 2 by April 2017’.

The innovative BIM Guidance website will support public sector procurers who adopt BIM on new construction projects.

In response to the Review’s
recommendations, the Scottish
Futures Trust (SFT) established the
BIM Delivery Group for Scotland in
August 2015, and a Scottish BIM
Implementation Plan was published
in October 2015. Since then, SFT
has been working in partnership
with public sector bodies, academia
and industry to deliver the challenging
April 2017 BIM objective.

The Scottish BIM Implementation
Plan set out a roadmap to deliver the
Scottish Government’s objective and
focused on several enabling actions,
including guidance creation, pathfinder
projects and training for the public
sector, which have all been delivered.

In forming the BIM Delivery Group for
Scotland, SFT appointed David Philp,
Global BIM Consultancy Director for
AECOM, as chair. Paul Dodd, Associate
Director from SFT, noted that:
‘David’s experience, expertise and
support has been of great value to
the BIM programme within Scotland’.

Ahead of April 2017, the Scottish
Government reconfirmed their
commitment to BIM by embedding
it within procurement policy through
a policy note issued in March 2017.
In addition, the BIM Delivery Group
for Scotland launched their new
innovative BIM Guidance website.
The website will support public sector
procurers who adopt BIM on new
construction projects.

The new guidance website seeks
to answer three questions for the
procurer: When should BIM be
adopted, and to what level? Why
should BIM be implemented through
a likely-return-on-investment tool?
And thirdly, how do I implement
BIM on projects?

When should I adopt BIM as a client?

In Scotland, as of April 2017, the
new Scottish government policy
will require relevant public sector
procurers to assess each new project
for BIM via a new ‘BIM Grading Tool’.
The online tool seeks project-specific
information and states which BIM
Level the project should adopt.

Why should I adopt BIM?

The BIM programme for Scotland
has developed a unique return-oninvestment
tool that assesses the
cost and qualitative benefits of
adopting BIM Level 2. This is a new
online tool that allows public sector
bodies to provide project-specific
data and assess the likely benefits.
The tool generates a summary
dashboard to support business
cases and investment. This will
assist in clarifying why BIM should be
adopted by identifying the marginal
gains on a cost and qualitative basis.

Finally, how should I adopt BIM as a
client? The new BIM Guidance Portal
for Scotland provides a new BIM
Navigator that quickly directs users
to organisation-specific guidance to
support their BIM adoption. Key to the
guidance is to support public sector
clients in developing considered and
well-defined information requirements
to set the conditions for success.
The BIM Guidance Portal includes
templates, guidance and best practice
all aligned to the British Standards
and for BIM Levels 1 and 2.

The approach is one of proportionality.
There is an awareness that procurers,
as well as industry, need to get the
basics right and develop a robust
information management platform
to allow the industry to progress on
its digital journey. Therefore, it may
be better to implement BIM Level 1
in lieu of BIM Level 2 to meet the
needs of the project and embed
better data management and sharing.

In delivering its objectives, the
BIM Delivery Group for Scotland has
focused on collaborative working and
created key working groups to support
Scotland’s BIM journey. A BIM supplier
group was formed in partnership with
Construction Scotland Innovation
Centre to align the approach of the
public sector to the needs and
capacity of industry. A new parallel
BIM programme for industry has been
developed in partnership between
the Construction Scotland Innovation
Centre, BIM Regions and the SFT BIM
Supplier Group. This will encompass
raising of awareness, training and
seminars for industry over the next
three years.

The BIM Delivery Group also
recognised how digital working can
support the skills shortage within the
construction sector. A BIM academia
working group was created to consider
the approach to skills, training and
using digital working to attract new
entrants to the construction industry.
Furthermore, the BIM Delivery Group
delivered training workshops across
Scotland attended by 350 public sector
delegates. Finally, a BIM Buyers group
has been created, to bring public
sector bodies together to share the
development of guidance and lessons
in how BIM is implemented within
public sector organisations.

Scotland’s BIM programme has
attracted interest both nationally
and internationally. This has enabled
collaborative working with other
national BIM programmes, including
Germany, Ireland, Singapore and
New Zealand.

The Scottish Government’s BIM programme has delivered innovative tools to ensure that an appropriate journey towards digitisation for the Scottish public sector can be determined and built upon. From my global perspective the Scottish BIM programme is attracting a lot of positive interest and is a true partnership between government and industry seeking new ways to better our construction industry.

David Philp

The construction sector has seen
gradual adoption of digital working,
and there are many recent examples
of infrastructure projects within
Scotland where greater digital working
has been adopted. The new BIM
requirements will be a further step
in Scotland’s journey towards digital
working within the built environment.

The BIM programme for Scotland set ambitious and bold objectives which will be delivered this year. Through embedding BIM requirements within Scottish Government policy, the new innovative guidance portal and collaborative working across industry, Scotland is well placed to adopt digital working to support better outcomes within the built environment.

Paul Dodd

From April 2017, the BIM Delivery
Group for Scotland will continue
to engage and collaborate with the
public sector and industry. The BIM
Guidance Portal will offer a platform
to share best practice and engage
with industry as BIM is implemented
beyond April 2017.

The launch of the Scottish
Government’s BIM policy in April
2017 has marked a significant
milestone for Scotland’s own BIM
journey. With billions of pounds
spent by Scotland’s public sector
on vital infrastructure each year,
the implementation of BIM will
support improved project delivery
and maintenance, and lead to
improved efficiencies and savings
for the public sector.

The BIM Delivery Group for Scotland
will seek to continue this digital
journey as we have to date: through
an approach of proportionality,
collaboration and ambition.

Mark Bew MBE looks back at the BIM Level 2 journey, the move towards BIM Level 3 and the start of the Digital Built Britain programme - heralding a new generation of smart infrastructure and construction.